Medical training systems are known in the prior art. One example of a medical training system is a medical simulation system, such as those produced by the Laerdal Medical AS based in Stavanger, Norway. Such medical simulation systems enable the training of students in responding to the medical needs of patients by simulating a medical emergency or other medical procedure. These medical needs include, but are not limited to, casualty assessment, emergency response, birthing, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is an emergency procedure that is performed in an effort to manually preserve intact brain function, until further measures can be taken to restore normal blood circulation and breathing to a patient.
The medical simulation systems often use manikins. The manikin is a life-sized anatomical human model used as a teaching aid in medical education for training students, for example doctors, nurses, paramedics, as well as other learners in, for example, emergency care and resuscitation of humans. A number of companies produce manikins. For example, Laerdal have produced manikins in various forms since the 1960s. Generally, manikins are three-dimensional models of all or part of a human being and are intended to be as realistic as possible in order to provide the learners with a realistic situation. The manikin can be used to instruct learners using a so-called “training scenario”. The training scenarios are designed to be realistic simulations of medical emergencies that might occur in real-life. An instructor can institute one or more of the training scenarios and view how the learner responds to the implemented training scenario.
More recently e-learning systems for training scenarios have been introduced. For example, the Laerdal Medical has developed a self-directed, computer-based course for obtaining basic life support certification and is marketed under the trade name HeartCode™. The HeartCode system enables students to obtain certification and includes a local database recording the names of the students who achieve certification.
A number of e-learning systems for medical simulation are known. For example, Laerdal Medical offers a SimStore centre together with the US Company HealthStream, Nashville, Tenn., which is an e-warehouse that supports the distribution and sale of medical simulation content. Further details of the SimStore and related SimCenter product are included in the Laerdal product information bulletin 11-002, dated 18 Apr. 2011. This product information bulletin describes the global launch of the SimCenter product. The medical simulation content in the SimStore is used with training products and other medical simulation products, such as those produced by Laerdal Medical.
A number of patent applications disclose integrating various e-learning systems. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,193,519 (Eggert et al, assigned to Gaumard Scientific) teaches an interactive, computerised education system that includes an interactive program to use with a simulator, such as manikin, and virtual instruments for performing simulated patient care activity under the direction of a computer program. The interactive program displays a selection of modules to assist a student in learning patient care protocols. The modules are selectable by the student for providing different interactive training sessions involving the different patient care protocols. The virtual instruments used with the simulator in performing the patient care activity co-operate with sensors in the manikin but interface with the computer program and thus provide feedback to the program regarding activity of a student, and confirm proper placement and use of the virtual instruments on the simulator.
Similarly, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0186549 (Huang) teaches a method and skills assessment tool for managing a testing session in a clinical skills testing centre that comprises a plurality of assessment stations. The method disclosed includes configuring a plurality of the assessment stations by associating each of the assessment stations with a case type prior to the beginning of the testing session, receiving electronic identification of a student at one of the assessment stations and, in response to receiving the student's identification, automatically assigning the student to one of the assessment stations.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0223573 (Miller et al. assigned to Kb Port) teaches a method and apparatus for multiple medical simulator integration. The apparatus provides multiple medical simulators, which simultaneously receive at least one electronic data source input from each medical simulator, and puts these electronic data source inputs into a common digital memory buffer in a time-stamped manner for at least a given training event. Each one of the electronic data source inputs forms a data record throughout the event of a simulated parameter of the training simulator or a physical parameter of the training simulator. The common memory buffer allows independent, simultaneous, synchronised, user-controlled playback of the individual input received within the memory buffer in any number of user-defined configurations.
An article “Healthcare Simulation and Its Potential Areas and Future Trends”, SES M's magazine 2011/No. 1 (January) pages 1-6 by J. Barris discusses the pressure of controlling costs in the health care services and reports on healthcare simulation as well as identifying the most relevant topics for future research. The article notes that healthcare simulation has a broad application potential for clinical simulation, operational simulation, managerial simulation and educational simulation. One of the issues associated with healthcare simulation is the growing complexity of healthcare processes. This complexity is also reflected in the growing complexity of the medical simulation tools. For example, it is necessary to create data from many different medical and other healthcare simulations and to compare this data. The data needs to be compared across students, institutions (such as hospitals or universities) and private clinics. The data therefore needs to be developed in a common format that allows such comparisons to be made.
The increasing complexity of the healthcare protocols means that the medical simulations have become more complex. There are, however, common elements or common events in the medical simulations that can be reused and reprogrammed in different medical simulations. The performance of such common events can also be compared against the performance by other students of the common events and against the performance of the same student in a different context using the same common event.
The term “student”, as used in this disclosure, is not intended to exclusively mean an undergraduate or college student who is attending an MD course, a B. Med. course or similar. The term “student” is also intended to apply to health-care professionals, such as an already-qualified nurse, doctor or paramedic who requires basic and refresher training to maintain his or her competence. It will be appreciated that the term “student” is therefore widely understood in the context of this disclosure to mean those people undergo training using medical simulation devices, e-learning or practical experience.
In addition to a traditional medical simulation system, new types of medical training systems and medical monitoring systems have been introduced in order to monitor and evaluate students in real-life situations. For example, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0312565 (assigned to the Board of Regents of the University of Texas system, Austin, Tex. and Laerdal Medical, Stavanger, Norway) describes a CPR sensor in the form of a card. The CPR sensor includes a thin and substantially flat flexible substrate having one or more sensor arrays, a power source, an output interface, a processor or analogue circuit incorporated into a credit-card flat flexible substrate. The CPR sensor of the US '565 publication can be easily carried in a wallet or other personal belonging or item of clothing so that the CPR sensor can be located quickly during an emergency. The CPR sensor is placed on or near to the hands of the person administering CPR and is able to provide immediate feedback to the person administering CPR to indicate that he or she is correctly administering CPR. The incorporation of the output interface enables a transfer of the real-life data to a database for further evaluation at a later stage. The storage of the real-life data in the database can be invaluable when reviewing the person's competence in performing CPR and/or for evaluating the performance of the CPR in the event that there is an enquiry or a lawsuit related to the performance of the CPR.